Just by Faith

Last week the danger came from outside. Strangers who slipped in behind Paul with a different gospel. This Sunday it came from inside, from the most well-known apostle in the church.

At a meal in Antioch, one apostle told the other apostle he was dead wrong. Not in a letter. Not in private. To his face, in front of everyone.

What could be worth that? One question, and it runs through the whole chapter. Does grace need our help?

Hold onto one small word. Just. Not just like barely. Just like only.

Two movements in chapter 2.

First, just the truth. After fourteen years of planting churches, Paul went up to Jerusalem, and he brought Titus with him. A Greek. An uncircumcised believer standing right there in the room. If grace needs something more, then Titus needs something more.

He was not forced. That was the verdict. And the leaders added nothing to Paul, not one requirement. If grace could be improved, somebody in that room would have done it.

Then Peter came to Antioch and sat down to eat with Gentiles. Passing the bread, full fellowship, no conditions. But when certain men came from James, he pushed back from the table.

He did not lose his theology. He lost his nerve. Verse 12 gives the reason in one word. Fearing. When Peter got up and moved away, he preached a sermon without a word.

Second, just by faith. Paul never tells us where his words to Peter end. There are no closing quotation marks in the Greek, which means the answer to the question at that table is verses 15 through 21.

A person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. Justified is a courtroom word. A verdict handed down. Titus was not forced, and that was the verdict for him. Verse 16 is the verdict for everybody.

Count how many times Paul says it in that one verse. Not by works of the law. Three times. About as often as we forget it.

Then the pronouns change. All chapter long it has been us and them, Jews and Gentiles, pillars and apostles. Now it is I and me. I have been crucified with Christ. He loved me and gave himself for me.

The last verse holds the whole thing. If righteousness came through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. That phrase is one Greek word, dorean. It means freely, as a gift, costing us nothing. It also means in vain, wasted, for nothing. Same word, opposite meanings, and which one it is depends on whether grace needed our help.

Add one requirement to grace and you do not shrink the cross. You empty it.

Just means only. Justified means declared righteous. Just and justified, same root. When nothing is added, the verdict comes in. Righteous. By faith. Only.

Grace does not need our help. It asks for our trust.

Something to sit with this week:

Where are you drawing back, saying grace but living like it depends on you? Christ lives in me. What changes today if you live like that is true?